The present invention relates to tracked vehicles and, in particular, to an extended length, shape changing track assembly that extends a substantial length of a vehicle and flexes with differing types of terrain without contacting the vehicle.
A wide variety of personal and commercial all terrain vehicles have been developed for travel over off road terrain such as desert, tundra, river beds, sodden fields and other unfriendly surface conditions including mud, sand, rocks, timber etc. These vehicles typically support at least one pair of track assemblies from a chassis mounted suspension. Some of the track assemblies permit conversion of wheeled vehicles to track vehicles.
Of the latter type of track assemblies, some also provide for pivoting idler wheel supports that follow changes in terrain contours and control and counter-act track flexion. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,904,986; 7,131,508; 7,533,741; and 7,597,161 disclose track assemblies of the foregoing types.
Although the foregoing track assemblies have proven very beneficial for use with light to medium weight vehicles, the assemblies are not able to accommodate many relatively heavier weight vehicles. The present elongated track support assemblies were therefore developed to support a wider range of vehicle types and load bearing capacities.